Re: support for ancient peripherals

[Joe <joe@jretrading.com>]

On Sun, 06 Nov 2022 00:30:58 -0400
Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> wrote:


> 
> You can find serial to USB adapters, but it will require some manual
> configuration, tho I suspect you already had to do that in Buster, so
> it should keep working pretty much the same (except the serial device
> will have a different name in `/dev/).
> 

I have several serial-USB devices, but they are not all the same. All I
have needed for a long time is Tx, Rx and ground, sometimes just Tx or
Rx. But some peripherals will need handshake lines, and serial adaptors
vary in provision of these. None of them provide the full RS-232 set,
of course.

I have one of these in permanent use and three for general purposes. Of
those three, two have only the signal lines and ground, one also has DTR
and CTS, which is the bare minimum for handshaking. I no longer have
any idea of what a serial mouse needs, though possibly only RX and
ground on an adaptor. On the other hand, serial mice were around when
PCs ran at a fraction of the speed of today's and might have provision
for handshaking.

-- 
Joe